Why is it a "lock"?

[Robert Egler]

Ok, this is an odd question that I was asked, and couldn't answer. Why are they called flintlocks or caplocks, etc. Why is the firing mechanism call a "lock"? :hmm:

 

[Stubert]

I venture a guess because The Wheel lock used a key to wind them up, Anyone else got an explanation?

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Because lock makers made them. That is why a number of the parts of a padlock have the same name as the parts of a flintlock, like sear and tumbler.

:thumbsup:

 

[brubincam]

IT HAD TO BE CALLED SOMETHING

 

[bwhoffman]

at the time...
it sounded better than "dohickey" and "thingamajig" :rotf:

 

[brubincam]

YOU BETCHA

 

[pulaski]

Could be because all the other 4 letter words already mean something else ? :rotf:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Doc has it right. There were match locks before we had Wheellocks, then flintlocks, then Percussion locks.

When early metalworking began to go beyond simple edged tools, and mechanical devices evolved where two pieces of metal had to hold together, move together, and release one or both parts, the first work was for security and involved replacing wooded door locks, with metal ones. One of the first specialties in the Blacksmithing trade was making locks. Locksmiths used files far more than any blacksmith would to shape metal to size and fit. The Blacksmith used his hammer instead. The Blacksmith MADE the files for the locksmith, but the locksmith spent his days filing and shaping metal parts to do complex work.

That Matchlock was the simplest mechanism, involving the hammer, or cock, that simply held the wick, a tumbler with a sear, moved by a simple V-spring, and the trigger bar. The Wheel lock came directly from the Lockmaker's other source of revenue, which was clocks. They had figured out how to make coiled springs, instead of V-springs. Like an old hand wound alarm clock, coil springs needed to be wound up or " loaded ", and a Key, or spanner, was used to do this. Again, the mechanism was called a " Lock " because of the specialized skills needed to design and make it. This was not something made by a blacksmith at his forge and anvil. It was made by a locksmith. Later, clockmakers would spin off as a separate discipline of lockmaking. If you possess a " Bic " butane lighter in your survival kit, you possess the latest incarnation of a " Wheel lock ".

The term, "Lock ", hardly suggests its origin only because you are dealing with a technology that has been around for 500 years, and our language has evolved, expanded, and to some extent changed over that time.It is almost as impossible to fathom that a BlackSmith was the only source of all tools to whole towns and villages, while tinsmiths, and coopersmiths traveled from town to town, selling their pots and pans, and making repairs. Today, A Farrier, who shoes horses exclusively, is the remaining subset of Blacksmith specialty work. Within Blacksmithing, there are smiths who specialize in doing certain kinds of work, but all are called blacksmiths, because they basically use the same equipment, and same techniques, whether making a knife, or an ornate flowered Iron Gate for someone's home.

 

[Jim-Iowa]

Very well written and informative Paul!
I enjoyed reading your post.

 

[50cal.cliff]

Paul you are just a walking encylopedia, but Hey we all got to walk sometime! :rotf: :rotf:
Great info as usual!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

 

Or, why did they name the mechanism for securing a door after a fireing mechanism on a gun??. Reminds me of an ad on TV years ago by national geographic peddling a nature video. The ad showed a polar bear walking across the ice and the narrator said "learn why polar bears walk pigeon toed". I looked at my wife and said "what makes them so sure that polar bears walk pigeon toed?, maybe pigeons walk polar bear toed!. BTW, I didn't know some wheel locks were made with coil springs :shocked2: . That would be bizzar. Was that a regional thing?.

 

[Applejack]

Paul,

A great response as usual. I have learned a lot from you. Keep up the good work!

I will be at Friendship on the 11th and 12th and perhaps our trails will cross as I would like to say hello. I will watch for a husky 60 year old that looks like a walking encyclopedia.

 

[arquebus]

I didn't know some wheel locks were made with coil springs

I'm sure Paul was referring to the flat wound springs as found in old watches & tape measures, not the coil-type springs I think you are picturing that are found in modern guns, etc.

 

I didn't know some wheel locks were made with coil springs

I'm sure Paul was referring to the flat wound springs as found in old watches & tape measures, .

Yes, I understand that that is what was meant, I should have said I've never seen wheel lock with anything other than a V spring.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I think, really, that all the successful wheel locks made with flat spring coiled springs are in museums, as they were so expensive to make, and even worse to maintain, that only the very wealthy could afford them. The pieces were ornately carved, and inlayed to represent the social status of the owners. If you ever get a look at the huge " key " or spanner used to wind these springs up, Its amazing they got any of them to fire at all. V-springs do work, and I suspect were a later adaptation to make a wheel lock that would be used by armed soldiers, rather than the royalty of the era. Its easy to see the transition from those V-springs and wheel locks, to the same springs used in Flintlocks. The problem with the wheel locks, was that the science of metallurgy was not even thought about, much less born, and the locksmiths just could not roll out flat spring wire to be coiled that did not have weak spots, that would cause the springs to break, often after only a few shots. The V-spring was cheaper to produce, stronger, and less likely to break.